Just a Dream
by Firenzie
Summary: Broken beer bottles. A vicious, mysterious man. Violence. And lots of blood. This is the nightmare that constantly haunts Taichi Yagami's sleep. But is it just a dream, or is it all somehow real? *Bursts out laughing* Ha, that sounded so serious! Anyway,


Just a Dream

By Firenze

The empty beer bottle whizzed through the air and smashed against the wall. The very same wall I was weakly cowering against. And he meant to throw it at me. Luckily, it missed, since he was too drunk to aim properly, but a few broken shards managed to pierce my skin. That satisfied him, but it left me terrified out of my mind.

The man was yelling loudly and angrily, but I couldn't hear any of it. In fact, the glass breaking was mute too. I'm not deaf; traumatic moments like this seemed to happen rather indescribably, with moments flashing before your eyes and some things missing entirely, like the sound. Unable to bear it all, I started crying, but that only made me more miserable, and him more furious. He struck me hard against the face with the palm of his hand, and I fell to my knees from the force. Then he kicked me as easily as if I was a soccer ball, and then I saw him remove his leather belt.

He used it like a whip, and started to beat me across the back with it. I wanted to run, I wanted to hide, but I was out of energy and the bravery required to even attempt it. Already I was on top of the pieces of broken glass, sinking deep into my flesh. Every crack of the belt against my back my me fell as if I were on fire. I was sobbing and screaming in pain, but that only made him angrier, and he hit me harder.

I bit my bottom lip so hard that it bled freely, but I was determined not to make a sound through all of the cruel torture. After a while, getting bored with me, he tossed the belt aside and stopped. Yet only after he whipped me as hard as he could and kicked me once more.

I hoped the brutal, living nightmare was over, but no, there was more. He produced another bottle of beer and downed the whole entire thing in a matter of seconds, not even stopping to take a breath. Then he threw the bottle at me, and this time, it broke successfully, right on my whip-lashed back.

There was a shower of glass and blood all around me. I couldn't move; I could scarcely breathe. The man spat on me and walked away. Now was it over? I saw him walk into the kitchen, and I prayed that he wouldn't get another beer from the refrigerator. He didn't. Instead, he was rummaging through all the drawers. I had no clue if this was good or bad, but at least it gave me a break.

And the chance to finally get a good look at this attacker. The man was tall, with a strong build, in his mid-forties or so. Reddish brown hair covered his entire face; a straggly mess of it on his head and a bushy beard and mustache. His eyes were dark and cold and black, with a dangerous, possibly deadly, gleam to them... Suddenly, a crazy grin spread across his face, and I soon realized why.

He ran his finger along the edge of an object, and his own dark blood came trickling out in a thin line. The thing gleamed as he raised it high enough for me to get a clear shot of it. But that wasn't good...because it was a large, extremely sharp knife...

My heart pounded in my throat, at three times its normal pace. The man was walking closer and closer... His laughs echoed through the house... And then he lifted the knife high and swiftly brought it down on me--

************

Taichi woke up, short of breath, covered in a cold sweat. He was horrified out of his mind. What had happened? Who was that man? He could still clearly envision his face, and still, he failed to recognize whoever he may have been... And the maniacal laughter still boomed fresh in his memory...

Light suddenly flooded the room, as the door slammed open. "Taichi, are you all right? You screamed loud enough to wake up the entire building!"

The person was his best friend and roommate, Yamato Ishida. His normally perfectly gelled blonde hair was tousled and disheveled. There was weariness on his face, yet concern in his sapphire blue eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I had that dream again," I croaked out. "This time he had a knife..."

Yamato sighed. "That nightmare _again_? That's the fourth time this week!" He was obviously worried, but a little exasperated. Nearly every single night lately, Taichi woke up the entire city screaming bloody murder. The sanity of his best friend was in question...

Taichi looked down. "I'm know... It's just so real... And they get more intense every time..."

"Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep and we can talk about this in the morning, if you're up early enough. I need to rest up for our huge gig tomorrow... There's always the chance we may get discovered or something."

He nodded ruefully (I've been wanting to use that word for some reason). "All right. Sorry about waking you."

"S'okay," he said nonchalantly (that one too), and then yawned. "Good night." He switched off the light, but before he closed the door, he whispered, "It was just a dream, all right? Remember that."

"Yeah... Just a dream."

Then he shut the door softly, and the entire room was enveloped in pitch-blackness. Taichi breathed heavily. Inhale... Exhale... It was only a dream, right? Just a really bad recurring nightmare. Happened to everyone all the time. Except this particular nightmare really did happen to Taichi all the time...ever since...ever since..._she_ died. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly and shakily. Just a dream, only a dream...

But if it was just a dream, why did his back sting so much? He gingerly touched his face with his hands. It was cut, and his hands were even stickier than they were before. If it was all just a dream, why was his entire bed covered in blood and broken glass?

************

A/N: I was bored, so I figured I'd post some of my unfinished fics or something before this year was over. This was originally meant to be a series type thing, but I got too lazy to finish it, yet I think it goes all right on its own. I had this part all written out nicely in my notebook…and I lost the notebook, so there are differences, since my memory isn't that great. This isn't under the original title I had planned either. It was "Nightmare," which fit the series, but not this one part...well, yeah, it does, but it just sounds better for a series, and I find this more fitting. I don't think this really classifies as horror, so I made it a mystery. I just needed to get away from drama-romances for a while...so what do I do? Go to a story that was originally a horror/mystery/drama/romance. But this was short, right? Shorter than these author's notes even.

About the Series:

How the Story Went -About what this story was going to turn out to be... In the second part, Tai wakes up late, with everything perfectly normal, but not being able to talk about the dream with Matt. And like all horror movies and books, there is a shower scene. He drops the soap, and when he goes to pick it up, he sees blood running down the drain...coming from him. He's cut all over, mainly with deep gashes across his back, like in the dream. So he turns off the water and grabs a towel to clean up, but everything stops/disappears. Then the mirror is foggy from the steam from the hot water, and letters appear just as Taichi is thinking it's all his imagination. The writing says that it's all real. Then, trying to feel less scared, he imagines how much it is like a clichéd horror movie, and laughs thinking that some ghost will pop up and say "be afraid, be very afraid!" (Yep, I wrote this before "Satan Claus") And then an apparition does appear... It's Sora in ghost form, and what does she tell him? "Don't be afraid." Cliffhanger, yadda, yadda, yadda, and then Taichi remembers how Sora became a ghost... She died in a mysterious crash, but she wasn't the driver, and the real driver wasn't there. Sora is somehow linked to Tai's dreams, which he's actually been having all his life, but stopped for a while. Tai loved Sora and they only went on one date before her death, and he was so depressed afterwards that he was on Prozac and stuff. His life became normal again and he finally started college and shared a room with Matt. Then the nightmares started up again, and I pretty much gave up there. Kind of lame, huh?

Other Info -I only had two parts fully finished and one half, and then I kind of lost my taste for this. Inspiration was from a really awesome (and I really mean it, since I've only called about three things 'awesome' in my whole life) dark fic, "Soul Bound" by Kendra the Digimon Empress. It's Kensuke and all, but I just wanted a shot at a dark fic too...whoa boy, look at the bad results. I also remembered a fic I read about Sora being abused by her father and Taichi having dreams about it but never knowing whom it was...that's where the entire idea is from. I read this a long, and I mean long, time ago, when I was brand new to the Digimon section. Anyway, this whole story is credited to that person who also wrote a fic with Sora anorexic...that's all I can remember...but it was a really great fic and they're a good writer.

Disclaimer: The Digimon characters I mention in this, which are like two, they don't belong to me. This didn't even really need the Digimon characters; it's just that no one reviews original fiction. Not that I'm asking for any, of course...but they'd be greatly appreciated. If you're an author and loves feedback, you know how I feel!


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